"Your stone is stone, not straw." "Prove it me," said she. "What do you know of the Princess Caprara at the end of it all? You have told me this morning all you know. I will go bail if the whole truth were out the matter would take a very different complexion." Again she said,-- "Prove that to me!" and then she looked over his shoulder. Wogan turned and saw that a servant was coming from the house across the lawn with a letter on a salver. The Princess opened the letter and read it. Then she turned again to Wogan. "His Eminence the Cardinal fixes the marriage in Bologna here for to-day fortnight. You have thus two weeks wherein to make your word good." Two weeks, and Wogan had not an idea in his head as to how he was to set about the business. But he bowed imperturbably. "Within two weeks I will convince your Highness," said he, and for a good half-hour he sauntered with her about the garden before he took his leave. CHAPTER XXIII But his thoughts had been busy during that half-hour, and as soon as he had come out from the mouth of the alley, he ran to Gaydon's lodging. Gaydon, however, was not in. O'Toole lodged in the same house, and Wogan mounted to his apartments, hoping there to find news of Gaydon's whereabouts. But O'Toole was taking the air, too, but Wogan found O'Toole's servant. "Where will I find Captain O'Toole?" asked Wogan. "You will find his Excellency," said the servant, with a reproachful emphasis upon the title, "at the little bookseller's in the Piazza." Wogan sprang down the stairs and hurried to the Piazza, wondering what in the world O'Toole was doing at a bookseller's. O'Toole was bending over the counter, which was spread with open books, and Wogan hailed him from the doorway. O'Toole turned and blushed a deep crimson. He came to the door as if to prevent Wogan's entrance into the shop. Wogan, however, had but one thought in his head. "Where shall I find Gaydon?" he asked. "He went towards the Via San Vitale," replied O'Toole. Wogan set off again, and in an hour came upon Gaydon. He had lost an hour of his fortnight; with the half-hour during which he had sauntered in the garden, an hour and a half. "You went to Rome in the spring," said he. "There you saw the King. Did you see anyone else by any chance whilst you were in Rome?" "Edgar," replied Gaydon, with a glance from the tail of his eye which Wogan did not fail to remark. "Aha!" said he. "Edgar, to be sure, since you saw the King. But besides Edgar, did you see anyone else?" "Whittington," said Gaydon. "Oho!" said Wogan, thoughtfully. "So you saw my friend Harry Whittington at Rome. Did you see him with the King?" Gaydon was becoming manifestly uncomfortable. "He was waiting for the King," he replied. "Indeed. And whereabouts was he waiting for the King?" "Oh, outside a house in Rome," said Gaydon, as though he barely remembered the incident. "It was no business of mine, that I could see."